Summary

This article applies to volume-licensed Windows 7 devices that use Key Management Service (KMS) activation and have the KB 971033 update installed. Some users may receive the Windows Activation or "Windows is not genuine" notifications starting at or after 10:00 UTC, January 8, 2019.

On January 9, 2019, we reverted a change that was made to Microsoft Activation and Validation servers. For devices that continue to report activation and “not genuine” notifications, you should remove KB 971033 by following the steps in the "Resolution" section.

Windows editions that support volume-licensing activation include the following:

Windows 7 Professional

Windows 7 Professional N

Windows 7 Professional E

Windows 7 Enterprise

Windows 7 Enterprise N

Windows 7 Enterprise E

For Windows editions that experience activation and “not genuine” errors that are not caused by the Microsoft Activation and Validation server change around January 8, 2019, we recommend that you follow standard activation troubleshooting.

Symptoms

You receive a Windows is not genuine error message after you log on.

Screenshot

Text description

Dialog Title: Windows Activation Windows is not genuine Your computer might be running a counterfeit copy of Windows Get genuine now Ask me later 0xC004F200

A This copy of windows is not genuine watermark appears on the Windows desktop on a black background.

Screenshot

Textual description

"This copy of Windows is not genuine" watermark appears in the bottom-right corner of the Windows desktop on a black background.

Activations that are made by using the slmgr /ato command fails and return the following message: "Windows is running within the non-genuine notification period. Run ‘slui.exe’ to go online and validate Windows."

License Activation Scheduler (sppuinotify.dll) was not able to automatically activate. Error code: 0xC004F200:

Cause

A recent update to the Microsoft Activation and Validation unintentionally caused a "not genuine" error on volume-licensed Windows 7 clients that had KB 971033 installed. The change was introduced at 10:00:00 UTC on January 8, 2019, and was reverted at 4:30:00 UTC on January 9, 2019.

Note This timing coincides with the release of the “1B” January 2019 updates (KB 4480960 and KB 4480970) that were released on Tuesday, January 8, 2019. These events are not related.

Windows 7 devices that have KB 971033 installed but did not experience this issue between the time of the change (10:00:00 UTC, January 8, 2019) and the time of the reversion of that change (4:30:00 UTC, January 9, 2019) should not experience the issue that is described in this article.

KB 971033 ("Description of the update for Windows Activation Technologies”) contains the following text:

"Note For an Enterprise customer who uses Key Management Service (KMS) or Multiple Activation Key (MAK) volume activation, we generally recommend to NOT install this update in their reference image or already deployed computers. This update is targeted at consumer installs of Windows using RETAIL activation."

We strongly recommend that you uninstall KB 971033 from all volume-licensed Windows 7-based devices. This includes devices that are not currently affected by the issue that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section.

Resolution

To determine whether KB 971033 is installed, use one of the following methods.

Open the Installed Updates item in Control Panel (Control Panel > Windows Update > View update history> Installed Updates), and then look for Update for Microsoft Windows (KB971033) in the list.

Run the following command in a Command Prompt window as administrator, and then look for Microsoft-Windows-Security-WindowsActivationTechnologies-package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~7.1.7600.16395 in the results:

dism /online /get-packages

Run the following command at a command prompt, and then look in the results for an indication that KB 971033 is installed:

wmic qfe where HotFixID="KB971033"

Run the following command in Windows PowerShell, and then look in the results for an indication that KB 971033 is installed:

Get-Hotfix -id KB971033

If KB 971033 is currently installed, use one of the following methods to remove the update. We recommend that you restart the system after the update is removed.

After KB 971033 is uninstalled, or after it no longer appears as installed, rebuild the activation-related files and then reactivate the system by running the following commands in a Command Prompt window as administrator:

The following table lists the KMS client keys for each edition of Windows 7.

Operating system edition

KMS Client Setup Key

Windows 7 Professional

FJ82H-XT6CR-J8D7P-XQJJ2-GPDD4

Windows 7 Professional N

MRPKT-YTG23-K7D7T-X2JMM-QY7MG

Windows 7 Professional E

W82YF-2Q76Y-63HXB-FGJG9-GF7QX

Windows 7 Enterprise

33PXH-7Y6KF-2VJC9-XBBR8-HVTHH

Windows 7 Enterprise N

YDRBP-3D83W-TY26F-D46B2-XCKRJ

Windows 7 Enterprise E

C29WB-22CC8-VJ326-GHFJW-H9DH4

Notes

Scripts that contain the KMS client setup key must target the corresponding operating system edition.

For services that do not have KB 971033 installed but experience the issue that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section, you can also rebuild activation-related files and reactivate the system by using the script that is mentioned in the list of reactivation commands.